Cybercrime

A Firefox add-on has turned 12,500 users of the browser into a botnet which scours every page visited by infected users for vulnerabilities. The ‘Advanced Power’ add-on ensnared 12,500 PCs – and found 1,800 vulnerable websites for its unknown creators.

The assault by cybercriminals against big businesses continued this year -78% were attacked by outsiders, according to a report by Price Waterhouse Cooper. But small businesses – those with less than 50 employees – are rapidly becoming a target.

The FBI custom-designs malware to snare suspects, a court has heard, and has been able “for years” to watch suspects through PC webcams, a court has heard. The teams operate “like normal hackers” – and rely on phishing and other criminal techniques.

APTs – or Advanced Persistent Threats – are the most menacing cyber attack there is, some say. Built to be stealthy, they penetrate networks, steal secrets – and vanish. ‘Catching’ one was a little like finding Bigfoot – but the much-hyped threat wasn’t quite so scary up close…

As wireless technologies and electronic controls are increasingly built into cars, vehicles could become vulnerable to hackers – either stealing information, or injecting malware, a U.S. Senator warned – inspiring debate on how real this threat is.

Personal information for up to 465,000 customers of JP Morgan, Chase & Co. may be at risk after hackers breached its network in July, the bank has admitted. Some reports claim that hackers had access to unencrypted, private information.

One of the ‘dark marketplaces’ offering illegal and semi-legal services via the anonymized web browser Tor has shut down, according to reports – with a user fleeing with millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin.

Systems at Harborview Medical Center and University of Washington Medical Center were infected with malware in October after an employee opened an infected email. This put thousands of patients’ data at risk.

The survey found that just 14% of top firms even took cyber risks into account at board level, according to a survey from the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Only a quarter see cybersecurity as a top priority.

A large-scale “heist” targeting Bitcoin site BIPS led to the theft of $1 million in Bitcoin – the second such major attack this month. BIPS was blasted with a massive DDoS attack two days before the theft on November 15.

Dating site Cupid Media left personal details and plain text passwords for 42 million users exposed after an attack earlier this year. The details included names, emails and birthdays for users of the dating service, according to reporter Brian Krebs.

Half of the world’s 50 biggest banks have faced security incidents affecting their web applications. Fifteen per cent of those incidents were classified as “high” or “critical” risks, a new study has revealed.

Only weeks after the closure of Silk Road, a “drug market” which authorities claim shipped $1.2 billion of drugs including heroin around the world, a site styling itself Silk Road 2.0 has appeared. Like the original, it is only accessible via the “anonymous” browser Tor.

The FBI added five new cybercriminals to its Most Wanted list – including a new entry at number one, Alexsey Belan. The FBI aimed a specific warning at criminals who thought they could “hide overseas”.